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An old fashioned gingerbread for spring.

This easy hot water gingerbread is about the simplest cake recipe out there. It’s practically as fool proof as a cake mix. You toss into a bowl everything but the flour and water, then mix. Next, add the water, then mix. And finally, add the flour.

Its a method that’s exactly what your junior high home-ec teacher taught you not to do but it works and the result is a beautifully-textured gingerbread.

This kind of old fashioned gingerbread is comfort food for me. Something about the flavour of ginger, the moist texture of the cake and the smell of the cake baking makes me feel just a little bit warmer on a damp spring day.

This easy hot water gingerbread can be a true snacking cake – a bit like a muffin, only sweeter. If you want to dress it up, just sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar.

Lemon sauce or lemon curd is an old fashioned accompaniment to gingerbread, something that my grandmother always served with this spiced cake. It helps gingerbread transition from winter to spring.  Below the gingerbread recipe you’ll find a link to my go-to recipe for lemon curd. It’s very easy (my daughter has been making it since she was 9) and is very tart.

This recipe for easy hot water gingerbread came from the Nova Scotia publication, Saltscapes magazine

Easy Hot Water Gingerbread Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup Crosby’s Fancy Molasses
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 cup hot water or hot tea
• 2 1/2 cups flour

Optional:
Icing sugar for sprinkling
Whipped cream
Lemon curd

Instructions:

1. Grease and flour a 9” high-sided cake pan (round or square) or line it with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine egg, sugar, butter, molasses, salt, baking soda and ginger.
3. When thoroughly blended, add hot water; stir, then add flour.
4. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
5. When cool, sprinkle with icing sugar if you like. Serve with whipped cream and/or lemon curd.

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Make this recipe delicious with Crosby's Molasses.